Your thoughts on PS please!

[urbanmate_wv]

Hi everyone, I was wondering what all of you think about using Photoshop and other PP on your images.

For example, if you take a great, sharp pic of a butterfly with your house in the background and you want to give it a new background. I know that is fine, but do you have to forever say that you dramatically altered the image? What if you get an offer to purchase the image?-Do you have to let them know if it looks completely natural? Am I assuming correctly that you can make minor adjustments like brightness without issues?

Also, how do you personally feel? Do you think it is okay to say that you took the image (because technically you did)?

Well, that's all for now, and I really hope that you can make some sense of my questions!

~Elizabeth

[cfcRebel]

Hi Elizabeth,

I have seen many people have the same (or similar) concern. I guess each of them draws the line a bit differently. Nowdays, the definition of "Minor Adjustment" varies from a person to another person.
I'll take your example, as example :). I don't have any problem replacing the bg so that the subject (butterfly) stands out more. If a friend, or stranger sees it and wants to purchase it, I take it as a compliment. I won't go as far as telling the person that i replaced the bg, sharpened the wings, and increased the color saturationcif nobody asks. If the buyer asks very specifically how i got such beautiful bg, then i will explain it without hiding anything regarding the processed bg.
Some people prefer an image represents the "actual" scene, meaning capture the actual light, colors, shadows/highlights available at that moment. On the other hand, some people prefer NOT to see the flaws of the actual scene. They are only interested in the beauty, the positive aspects of the subject. Ansel Adams spent a long time in darkroom to manipulate hiw work until it becomes a masterpiece. Is the image an exact representation of what he saw? This topic has wide range of opinions and IMHO, there's no right or wrong answer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Remember, your standards and expectations are different from John Doe's which different from mine....so on and so forth. :)

[davidcrebelxt]

Very well put.

Photography can be approached from various angles

One would be Photojournalistic - You want to document the scene as it really was
Yet even there we see artistic decisions that don't represent the scene as we see it (BW, softfocus, extreme depth of field, etc.)

The interesting thing about photography compared to human vision is what we see. Take a beautiful landscape. Many times we can appreciate the beauty, even though there is light-pole, a sign, or a person in the distance, our mind can process it to where we don't really notice it. Take a PICTURE of that same scene, and suddenly that pole, sign, or person becomes a severe distraction and the focus of the image. Thus, removing that object may actually make it appear closer to how our mind saw it.

I agree... there is no need to explain with every image how it was processed. If someone wants to know the technical details, sure tell them. If they are buying the image, they likely are for the aesthetic value rather than what camera was used or what PP was involved.

If you are submitting to a contest calling for photo-journalism, or to a magazine for publication, follow their instructions for disclosure. It gets shady if you pass of an image as something it is not... on the otherhand, if you pass of an image as an image - no strings attatched - there's nothing wrong with that.

[Mike McCusker]

Post processing (Photoshop etc.) is today's darkroom.

[sapearl]

Hi Elizabeth - welcome to the forum :D. Interesting question you have and perhaps you'd be interested in this other thread:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=450482

To me PS is another "darkroom" tool, but far more capable with many more features and possibilities. I'm not into complete photo manipulation myself, partly because some of the things you see like that on the web are beyond my own abilities, and also because I tend to do pretty much straight photography.

I will remove unsightly EXIT signs or wall plugs sometimes from group shots done at weddings, along with some facial blemishes, but I don't remove pounds or add muscles to people for that type of enhancement. - Stu